Science Fiction Though the Decades

Monday, September 15, 2014

1961: Aliens for Neighbours (Simak, Clifford D.)

Humans perplexed by the whims of aliens
(3/5)

Clifford Simak’s first collection of
short stories was published in 1956—Strangers of the Universe. Perhaps
time has not been gentle to the stories (all between 1950 and 1953), or perhaps
it’s my taste in material, but most of the stories felt hurried and whimsical.
I’ve also read a later collection—The Civilisation Game (1997)—which has
stories ranging from 1939 (“Hermit of Mars”) to 1969 (“Buckets of Diamonds”).
Rewinding back a few years, Simak’s second collection was published in 1960 as The
Worlds of Clifford Simak (Simon & Schuster, US), which contained twelve
stories. A year later in 1961, three stories were omitted from the volume in
order to publish Aliens for Neighbors (Faber and Faber, UK), which has
stories spanning the short period between 1954 and 1957…

…and like both Strangers of the
Universe and The Civilisation Game, this collection, too, feels
whimsical and hasty, two very common symptoms for short stories of Simak, I
reckon. However, Simak does have his gems: “The Answers” (1953), “The Big Front
Yard” (1958) and, in this collection, the unforgettable “Dusty Zebra” (1954).

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Dusty Zebra (1954, novelette) – 4/5 –
First, Joe’s stamps go missing from his desk, the his inkwell and fountain pen.
Certain the pen was gone thanks to his trading-savvy son, Joe unlikely finds
his pen replaced with a pen-like object which extends telescopically, yet
something pulls from the unseen. Worried by the apparatus, Joe revisits the
desk to discover a small white dot—he places a crayon on it, it disappears to
be replaced by a glassed contraption. Intrigued by the extra-worldly gift, a
business idea springs to his mind. 30 pages

Honourable Opponent (1956, shortstory) –
4/5 – Humans have met alien races across their sphere of space and have always
engaged in peaceful commercial interests, until the day they met the
roly-poly-like Fivers. Battles ensued where the humans blew up a number of
Fiver ships while their own ships simply disappeared—a technology the humans
have been trying to uncover. On a worthless planet, a human captain awaits the
general of the Fiver race, who are juvenile and enigmatic to a ludicrous
degree. How could they screw up a prisoner exchange? 16 pages

Carbon Copy (1957, novelette) – 3/5 –
Homer Jackson is a suburban realtor. He’s honest, professional and content with
his business, until the queer character of Mr. Oscar Steen approaches him with
a deal that’s hard to refuse: lease out each of the fifty houses of a walled
off property for a mere $5,000, all of which he gets to keep—some in cash, some
deposited in the community’s bank. The homes sell quickly, but though sold,
homer can’t find any of them occupied. 48 pages

Idiot’s Crusade (1954, shortstory) – 3/5
– Meek often treated with scorn, Jim is the village idiot in a town where minor
evil is around every corner: tax dodging, adultery, common swindling, gambling,
illegal distilling and general misdeeds. When Jim is out with his dog Bounce,
he unwittingly becomes host to an alien intelligence, thereby granting him
incredible powers of sights and telepathy. Initially using it as a tool for
revenge, Jim learns to use it for good, against the alien’s wishes. 17 pages

Operation Stinky (1957, novelette) – 2/5
– Out in a thick of lilac around his shack where his dogs are causing a stir,
old man Asa discovers a friendly “skunk”, a surfeit or which has been living
peacefully under his house for some time. He takes the skunk to the bar, gets
the skunk kicked out, and gets himself drunk. He climbs into Old Betsy, his
truck, in which the peculiar skunk sits, when the truck takes off under its own
will… it also evades police, threatens a dog, and flies through the air. 35
pages

Jackpot (1956, novelette) – 3/5 – Exploring
and looting abandoned systems across the sphere of human space, a captain and his
motley crew discover an enormous cylindrical building yet to be plundered. Within
the ground floor maze of the column are numerous black, labeled cylinders with
unknown functions. Further in the maze rest machines that have a seat and an
umbrella, which turn out able to play the cylinders in a didactic-type fashion.
The captain seems money in the find, but the housed alien considers else. 44
pages

Death Scene (1957, shortstory) – 2/5 –
The government had erected cross-country radar installations and, in a time of desperation, flipped the
switch on all them simultaneously. The result, announced by the President to
the world, was the country—all of its citizens—could now peer twenty-four hours
into the future. An elderly couple affected by the change consider checking in
with their soon-to-arrive children, but deem the gesture superfluous. Seconds tick
by of time predicted. 7 pages

Green Thumb (1954, novelette) – 3/5 –
Joe’s the country agent and is used to getting strange calls from farmers, but
the one about the 30-foot hole and mountain of curious sand is beyond even his
experience. Back at home, the neighborhood dogs yap at something, which Joe
discovers to be an exotic plant, only later to witness the same plant mobile. The
unlikely pair begin to recognize each other’s needs through a non-verbal,
emotional understanding that Joe can use to nurse earth greenery. 23 pages

Neighbour (1954, novelette) – 3/5 –
Calvin, Bert and Jingo tend their sprawling farms in Coon Valley. When a new
family takes over the old Lewis farm, speculation runs among them and the other
townies. Curiosity is piqued when it’s discovered that their fields are
pest-free and well-watered, unlike the farm of the farming trio. Also, Reginald
Heath, the new farmer, has a curious tractor and an equally as curious car. Ten
years later, during which peace reigns, an unwelcome reporter comes to inquire
about the valley’s peculiarities. 26 pages